Israel Extends COVID-19 Vaccine Recalls To Over 40s, Health Minister Says

TEL AVIV, Aug. 19 (Reuters) – Israelis over 40 will now be eligible for a third dose of Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the health minister said on Thursday, hoping that an extension of his campaign to recall will fend off the Delta coronavirus a variant.

The expansion of booster eligibility, following a recommendation from the Health Ministry reported by Israeli media, comes a day after the United States announced plans to offer booster doses to all Americans, citing data showing decreased protection. Read more

Other countries, including Canada, France and Germany, have also planned recall campaigns.

Israel began giving third doses to people over 60 in July, later lowering the minimum age for eligibility to 50 and offering reminders for health workers and others. The Department of Health cited waning immunity as well as the high contagiousness of the Delta variant.

More than one million of Israel’s 9.3 million people have since received a third injection, which an Israeli health care provider said was 86% effective in preventing infection. Read more

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Twitter that “now even people aged 40 and over and teachers can get a third dose of the vaccine … The vaccine is safe and also effective.”

New cases in Israel have increased since the emergence of the Delta variant, first identified in India. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has sought to avoid an economically painful national lockdown by increasing third doses.

Reporting by Rami Ayyub Editing by Chris Reese and Nick Zieminski

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